Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Children's Story Choices

Not sure which ones these are?Top Row: Butter Battle Book, The Sneetches, The Cat in the Hat, The LoraxBottom Row: Yertle the Turtle, The Grinch, Green Eggs & Ham, Horton Hears a Who

This doesn't even include Oh the Places You'll Go, I Can Read with my Eyes Shut, Oh The Thinks You can Think, The Birthday Book, Marvin K Mooney...

They say it's the little things responsible for shaping who we are or how we think. Night after night, we read Dr. Seuss until all of us fell asleep. And these were the words we heard as we were nodding off...

When I started looking for the Dr. Seuss quotes, I stumbled onto the fact that Universal Studios was putting out The Lorax in theaters in March. Initially, I added the video of The Lorax movie trailer. But a few hours after I uploaded this blog piece, my friend Bettina wrote to tell me that there's an even BIGGER story here! It seems my kids weren't the only one influenced by Dr. Seuss.

A 4th grade class in Boston were dismayed after watching the initial trailer. The movie wasn't holding to the the environmental theme of The Lorax, there was barely a mention of the trees at all!

These 14 children launched The Lorax Petition Project through Change.org. They saw similarities between our world and the world of the Lorax. Their petition was circulated around Twitter and the internet; in one month, they generated 57,000 signatures.

They wrote:

The Lorax movie, with its millions of dollars in advertising and massive audience has the potential to help heal the Earth. This movie can show the world we should not take our sky, water, trees, and animals for granted. It could inspire more and more people to treat Earth with the same respect you would give a child.We’d like to see the movie live up to the potential of the book. We’re encouraging Universal to make an improved Lorax movie website that Dr. Seuss would be proud of.

And the good news is, THEY WON! It's fascinating to see how quickly the internet, and especially social networks can empower people make a change in their world. "No matter how small."

Heartwarming, isn't it?

Their Video Request:

Here's the Movie Trailer. And it's being released on Dr. Seuss's Birthday!!! Do you have that book, Happy Birthday to You - it's a traditional birthday reading here. Still.